Elder Abuse Prevention Strategies

Abuse is behaviour towards a person which deliberately or unintentionally causes harm to them. It is a violation of an individual’s human and civil rights and in the worst cases can result in death.

The type of abuse may vary, depending on the personal problems of the individual. For example; a carer who is struggling financially may financially exploit the person they are careing for.

Physical abuse is non-accidental pain or injury inflicted on a service user by a health or care worker. This can include hitting, shaking, rough treatment or inappropriate use of restraint.

Physical abuse can include: hitting, slapping, pushing, pinching, force feeding, kicking, burning, scalding, misuse of medication or restraint, catheterisation for the convenience of staff, inappropriate sanctions, a carer causing illness or injury to someone in order to gain attention for themselves ( this might be associated with a condition called fabricated and induced illness ).

Abuse is the violation of an individual 's human and civil rights by any other person or persons. The harm may be physical, psychological or emotional or may be directed at exploiting the vulnerability of the victim in a more subtle way. There are many different types of abuse such as physical, sexual, emotional, neglect, exploitation, discriminatory, institutional, bullying, self-harm and domestic abuse.

Sexual abuse refers to sexual contact of any kind without permission neglect is not providing food, health care, shelter or anything needed to live for vulnerable elder persons. Illegal taking or misuse of the elder’s property is called exploitation. Emotional abuse is the humiliation, threatening, or insulting (verbally or nonverbally) of an elder. Deserting of a vulnerable elder by a person who is responsible for them is called abandonment.

Physical abuse is when someone is using physical force to hurt/ injure, this can include punching, kicking, punching. It may or may not leave marks/ bruises on the body

Firstly, financial abuse is defined as the illegal or improper use of funds or assets that do not belong to oneself (British Columbia Law Institute, 2011). In a NBC article by Herb Weisbaum (2011), he talks about why the elderly become targets of financial abuse, “Con artists also prey on older people, because as a group they control a tremendous amount of this country’s wealth. And in many cases, poor health — both physical and mental — makes them easy targets for financial predators” (para.

This report aims to describe the abuse which may affect adults. Abuse is a term in which to describe an act of intentionally or unintentionally harming yourself or someone else leaving physical or emotional damage or effects. There are many types of abuse such as physical, sexual, psychological, exploitation, bullying, neglect and many more. It is difficult to categorise abuse as there could be many reasons behind the abuse and because there are so many types of abuse.

One way elder abuse or elder mistreatment can be defined is, “intentional actions that cause harm or create a serious risk of harm, whether or not intended, to a vulnerable elder by a caregiver or other person who stands in a trust relationship to the elder” (Bonnie & Wallace). There are seven main forms of elder abuse which include emotional, physical, psychological, sexual, financial, neglect, abandonment, and self-neglect (Cohen, Levin, Gagin & Friedman, 2007; Fulmer, 2008; Thompson & Priest, 2005). Even though only 6.2% of victims are abused in long-term care settings, my experience of witnessing neglect and abandonment are very serious (Teaster et al., 2006).

Elder abuse is of growing concern in today’s society; it is the single most unreported cause of abuse. The thesis of this paper is to describe elder abuse, look at why it is becoming such a problem and what is being done to correct it. According to World Health Organization it is estimated that 80 percent of elder abuse is unreported (Daly, Schmeidel & Jogerst, 2012). Elder abuse is a problem not only just in the health care setting but community wide. Patience and having the time to care for the elderly population is becoming more and more of a struggle in that nurses are being continuously bombarded with a larger patient load and a lack of help. In an article by Rosen (2014), it is stated that five

I am intending on researching the rising epidemic of elder abuse and why and how it happens. I hypothesize that the subject generally is unheard of and goes unnoticed for many people. Since working and caring for the elderly is a part of the medical field, my primary audience would be health care professionals who work in elder facilities as well as family members who have taken on the role as care giver. These individuals should be interested in the topic because chances are they are passionate about their work or family member and would like to acquire knowledge on how to prevent or help life proceed to those that have been affected by the situation. The people who have the greatest opportunity and accessibility to help the victims of

Other at-risk groups include people who are socially isolated and people with mental impairments or dementia. While protecting the victim is of the utmost importance, it is vital to not forget the abuser because they are affected as well. Since most abuse happens at home by family members, that is who I am referring to as the abuser. The stresses of caregiving can be overwhelming. While elder abuse is never an acceptable response to any problem, no matter how stressful, many people who are thrust into the role of caregiving can find themselves ill-equipped for it. At its most innocent stage, a caregiver 's unintentional failure to provide proper care and support because of a lack of understanding or lack of skills is abusive behavior that can threaten the safety and well-being of the older adult, but instead of them being penalized it may be more productive to educate them.

The purpose of this research proposal is to examine the factors that contribute to elder abuse. The aim of the research is to view how the elderly

Elder abuse is a broad term that encompasses 6 different types of abuse: Physical Abuse, Sexual Abuse, Abandonment, Neglect, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, and Financial Exploitation. Of these, financial exploitation is the third most commonly substantiated type of abuse with an estimated financial loss of $2.6 Billion per year. (Elder Abuse Fact Sheet 2010) One study showed that 41 of every 1,000 residents in New York were the victim of major financial exploitation, but only 1 in 44 cases of were actually reported to the authorities. (Lifespan of Greater Rochester Inc., Weill Cornell Medical Center of Cornell University, and New York City Department for the Aging 2011) What is financial exploitation and who is at risk? Why is there such a